1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image-inputting apparatus.
2. Description of the Related Art
An image-inputting apparatus such as a scanner reads an image as an electronic data. A conventional image-inputting apparatus stores image data on a storage medium such as a memory card removably attached to the apparatus, so that the image data can be displayed on a personal computer or printed on a printer (Japanese Patent Laid-Open No. 2002-10025).
The image-inputting apparatus has a line image sensor that scans the surface of a document to read the image of the document. The thus read image data is formatted in a predetermined file format. Then, the formatted data is stored into a memory means. The file format has compatibility with other equipment such as a personal computer and a printer, so that the memory means can be attached into a personal computer for displaying the image or a printer for printing the image.
However, the conventional image-inputting apparatus have been of the type in which a user specifies a file format of the image data prior to the storage of image data. Therefore, if a user is not familiarized with working with image data, it takes a long time to set a file format before the image data can be stored.
For example, an image-inputting apparatus such as a scanner does not have a file format used in a camera-equipped mobile phone. Therefore, if a user attaches the image storage means into a camera-equipped mobile phone in an attempt to display an image, the image cannot be displayed. In order that the image data can be displayed on the mobile phone, the image data should first be formatted in a file format that can be accepted by a personal computer before storing the image data in the storing means. Then, by using software for converting image data format, the personal computer converts the thus stored data into an image data format that can be accepted by a camera-equipped mobile phone. This takes a long time to convert the data format and is therefore not user-friendly.